Cost estimates per month (during surveillance) and per case (during an outbreak) to prevent and control dengue fever introductions in Cairns, Australia.

1DART's responsibility is to implement mosquito prevention and control. In large outbreaks DART is supplemented by environmental health and municipal agents.2Vector control encompasses selective indoor insecticide residual spraying (SC 2.5% lambda-cyhalothrin, Demand) and larval control/source reduction activities (removal of small containers and treatment of large containers with S-methophene pellets or residual surface sprays) in premises within 100 meters of a case.3Serum samples are forwarded to the reference laboratory where they are screened for the presence of anti-dengue IgM and IgG using a combined pool of flavivirus antigens in capture ELISA assays. Positive IgM samples are further analyzed using flavivirus-specific IgM ELISA capture assays in order to identify the serotype of the infecting dengue virus. Additionally, real-time TaqMan reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction is performed to detect dengue virus RNA.4Information provided by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service.5Each cased was assumed to loose, on average, 5 work days. Daily costs were estimated by dividing the median monthly income in Cairns (US$ 25,419; source: Australian Bureau of Statistics) by the number of working days (250).